Biological risks to the bamboo plantations

Potential risks affecting the bamboo plantations include pests, plant diseases, forest fires, storms and heavy snow fall. Generally bamboo plantations are not affected by these risks and we do take preventive measures where possible. A third party risk assessment report stated that the overall risks to our plantations are manageable.

Flowering of bamboo is a phenomenon which is still not well understood. Moso bamboo flowers only sporadically and the flowering only occurs in small areas or in a few clumps. Moreover, the flowering does not result in the death of the roots of the bamboo tree, therefore new shoots grow from the roots of a tree which has flowered.

The north-western region of Fujian, being the core area of the natural distribution of Moso bamboo, is rarely affected by extreme weather events. Although the coastal areas of the province are hit regularly by tropical storms, the interior areas are hardly affected. The only apparent risks to the plantations are forest fires and, especially in higher elevations, damage caused by snowstorms during the winter and early spring.